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Nicki Minaj/Artistry
Public image Minaj has been referred to as the "Queen of Rap" on several occasions,and has been considered to be one of the most influential female rap artists. In 2012, a New York Times editor said that some consider her to be "the most influential female rapper of all time". In 2017, Patrik Sandberg of Dazed opined that Minaj "has, by any available metric, surpassed every other female hip hop artist to become the most successful in history. Minaj will be as important to this decade as The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac were to the 90s." Minaj has been called the "black Lady Gaga" because of her colorful costumes and wigs. In one interview, Minaj rejected the comparison, but in another interview, she said that she is inspired by Gaga's creativity. Minaj has cited Alexander McQueen, Gianni Versace, and Christian Louboutin as her favorite designers. The Huffington Post described her style as "risk-taking" and "far-out", with "bold sartorial choices"; Yahoo! called her dress "colorful" and "crazy", and wrote that "the fashion and music world would certainly be very quiet without Ms Minaj". Minaj is considered a modern sex symbol; since 2011, she has been included on the annual Maxim Hot 100 list several times. Her physique, notably her buttocks, has attracted significant attention from the media. Early in her career, she made autographing breasts part of her movement to empower women. In 2010, she said that although she originally felt obligated to mimic the provocative behavior of the "female rappers of her day", she intended to subdue her sexuality because she "wants people—especially young girls—to know that in life, nothing is going to be based on sex appeal. You've got to have something else to go with that." However, later in her career, Minaj embraced her sexuality and frequently attracted media attention for her sexually explicit and provocative lyrics, performances, and social media presence. Commentators and critics often debate whether Minaj's work empowers or objectifies women. The cover art and music video for her 2014 single "Anaconda", both attracted significant controversy upon release. The music video was viewed 19.6 million times in its first 24 hours of release. Detractors called the video and cover art "too racy", while others praised Minaj for "owning her sexuality", examining her work through a feminist perspective. A writer for The Guardian said, of the "Anaconda" song and music video: "Minaj is literally butting into Sir Mix-A-Lot’s ode to buttocks with Anaconda, turning the classic song into a conversation, and refusing to let the camera objectify her lap dance by keeping it zoomed out, at a distance." In 2015, Madame Toussauds unveiled a wax figure of Minaj, which depicted her bent down on her hands and knees—the pose from the "Anaconda" music video. The attraction received criticism from some, including rapper Azealia Banks and The Independent, who called it "sexist" and "racist". Despite this, Minaj voiced her approval of the wax figure on social media. After numerous visitors began taking sexually suggestive photos with Minaj's statue, the museum instituted extra security. Minaj talked about feminism in an interview with Vogue in 2015, saying "There are things that I do that feminists don't like, and there are things that I do that they do like. I don't label myself." In 2018, an interview with Elle Magazine, in which she discussed sex workers, her own sex appeal, and sexuality in music and on social media, attracted criticism. Billboard listed Minaj the fourth-most-active musician on social media on its March 2011 Social 50 chart. As of 2018, Minaj is the world's most followed rapper on Instagram. On Twitter, she is one of the most followed rappers, with over 20 million followers on the app, as of 2018. Alter egos With her parents frequently fighting during her childhood, Minaj lived through characters she created as a means of escape. She recalled that "fantasy was my reality" and her first identity was Cookie, who became Harajuku Barbie and (later) Nicki Minaj. In November 2010, Minaj assumed the alter ego Nicki Teresa, wearing a colorful headdress and calling herself "healer to her fans" during a visit to the Garden of Dreams Foundation at Fuse Studios in New York. She introduced another alter ego, Rosa (pronounced with an exaggerated R''), to commemorate her December 2010 appearance on ''Lopez Tonight. For Pink Friday, Minaj created another alter ego: Roman Zolanski, "a demon inside her", Minaj's "twin brother" whose character she assumes when she is angry. Roman has been compared to Eminem's alter ego Slim Shady, and on "Roman's Revenge" Minaj and Eminem collaborate as their alter egos. On her next album, she said that there would be a lot of Roman: "And if you're not familiar with Roman, then you will be familiar with him very soon. He's the boy that lives inside of me. He's a lunatic and he's gay and he'll be on there a lot." Roman has a mother, Martha Zolanski, who appeared on "Roman's Revenge" with a British accent and singing on "Roman Holiday" for the first time. Martha appeared in the "Moment 4 Life" video as Minaj's apparent fairy godmother. Although Minaj was rapping in songs such as "All I Do Is Win (Remix)", she promised to introduce Nicki, Roman and Onika on her first album. Musical style Minaj is known for her animated rapping style and her unique flow. Her rapping is distinctive for its speed and the use of alter egos and accents, primarily British cockney. She often both sings and raps in her songs and combines metaphors, punch lines, and word play into her work. The alter egos are incorporated with her lyrics in British accents (Roman Zolanski) or soft-spokenness (Harajuku Barbie). Ice-T said about Minaj's rapping style, "Minaj does her thing. She has her own way of doing it. She has an ill [sic] vocal delivery. She kind of reminds me of a female Busta Rhymes, like how she throws her voice in different directions." The New York Times called Minaj "a sparkling rapper with a gift for comic accents and unexpected turns of phrase. She's a walking exaggeration, outsize in sound, personality and look. And she's a rapid evolver, discarding old modes as easily as adopting new ones." Although many critics describe her technique as bubblegum rap, Minaj said: "What people don't know is that before I was doing that craziness I was doing me, I was just doing regular sounding rap that anyone could hear and identify with. But once I started doing all that weird shit—I'm not mad at it because it got everyone's attention." Noted as a rap artist, she lends herself to electronic music genres (especially electropop). Pink Friday marked her exploration of the genres, spawning electro songs including the pop-laden "Super Bass". Also combining rap with synthesizer music, Minaj's second album had a number of electro-hop and electropop songs: "HOV Lane", "Whip It", "Automatic", "Come on a Cone", "Young Forever", "Fire Burns", "Roman Holiday" and "Beez in the Trap"; while "Starships" is a eurodance song.201 She collaborated with other artists, producing more electronic songs: "The Boys" with "Me & U" singer Cassie and "Beauty and a Beat" with Justin Bieber. Her verse on Kanye West's "Monster" was critically acclaimed and contributed greatly to her popularity; many critics said she had the best verse in the song. Her verse was listed by Complex as the best rap verse of the 2010s. West claimed at one point he considered deleting her verse from the track, because he was worried it would outshine his own work: Influences Minaj cites Foxy Brown and Jay-Z as major influences: "I really loved Foxy as a female rapper. I was really interested in her mind and her aura and I was really, really into Jay-Z. Me and my friends in high school, we were reciting all of the Jay lyrics. His words were our words in our conversations all the time." She said, further: "I never really told Foxy how much she has influenced me and how much she changed my life, and you've gotta tell people that when they're alive to even be able to take the compliment, instead of paying tribute to them when they're no longer here", adding that Foxy Brown was "the most influential female rapper" for her, though she initially was compared to Lil Kim when she debuted. Nicki and Lil Kim, often cited as Foxy's main rap rival, have reportedly exchanged words with each other, on social media and in their music. Jada Pinkett Smith is one of Minaj's role models in her acting career. Minaj was inspired by R&B singer Monica, singing "Why I Love You So Much" at every talent show she entered. Performing in Atlanta on her Pink Friday Tour, she called Monica one of her all-time greatest musical influences. Minaj has also cited Beyoncé, Kanye West, Trina and Drake as influences. She called Betsey Johnson a fashion inspiration: "Betsey is a free spirit. When I met her the other day, I felt like I knew her for my whole life. She's so warm and considerate and caring. She's amazingly talented and I've been wearing her clothes forever, so to meet her was like, 'Yay!' was bowing down to her; she's dope!" Minaj has also expressed appreciation for Cyndi Lauper's style and how her videos inspired her as a teenager: "When I first went to get my hair colored, I was about 14 and I wanted blonde highlights. The beautician said, 'No, you have to get your mother on the phone,' and I was just crying and begging. I've always been experimenting. Cyndi Lauper's videos – that's what intrigued me." Other Influences Include: *Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes *Lil Wayne *Smokey Robinson *Lauryn Hill *Jadakiss *Natasha Bedingfield *Remy Ma *Missy Elliott *Janet Jackson *Madonna *Britney Spears *Grace Jones *M.I.A. Category:Nicki Minaj